(a) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a backlight unit and a liquid crystal display including the same.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is one of the most widely used display devices today. Generally, the LCD displays an image by holding a liquid crystal material between an upper substrate formed with common electrodes, color filters, and the like, and a lower substrate formed with thin film transistors, pixel electrodes, and the like, and applying different voltages to the pixel and common electrodes to generate an electric field. Application of different voltages changes the arrangement of liquid crystal molecules, and thereby adjusting transmittance of light.
An LCD panel of the LCD is in itself a non-emissive type of light receiving element. Hence, an LCD generally includes a backlight unit for supplying light to the LCD panel.
As a light source for the backlight unit, a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) has been widely used, since it consumes little power and provides bright white light. Recently, a light emitting diode (LED) has been gaining popularity since it has superior color reproducibility, a longer lifespan, and less power consumption.
Meanwhile, a technique for improving color reproducibility by applying quantum dots to a backlight unit has been developed. Quantum dots have low thermal stability and are easily oxidized, and thus are not directly applied to an LED package. An attempt has been made to provide the quantum dots in a form of being sealed in a tube such as a glass tube that is impervious to oxygen and moisture (hereinafter, referred to as a quantum dot rail). However, in order to provide the quantum dot rail, an additional space is required at a side at which a light source of a backlight unit is disposed (hereinafter referred to as a light input section), thereby increasing a bezel width.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.